Shawn Ku

To neighbors and casual acquaintances, they always seem to have come across as loners, quiet types who kept to themselves. Were they depressed? Lonely? Or just burning with rage? Nobody can say for sure, but campus gunmen who open fire on their classmates remain frustratingly enigmatic to an obsessed public searching for motives.

In the wake of such carnage, our hearts go out to the victims and their families, but how do we respond to the parents of the perpetrator? Do we acknowledge their loss, and pity them for their unexpected brush with infamy? Or do we blame them for raising a monster?